Honoring the Family of Henry Glatfelter (1752-1833) 

 

Henry Glatfelter was the fourth son (after Felix, John, and Jacob) born to Casper and Anna Mary Glattfelder in Codorus Township, York County, Pennsylvania. 

 

His tombstone in the graveyard of St. Paul's (Wolf's) church in West Manchester Township declares that he was born on August 13, 1753 and died on April 16, 1833.  It gives his age as 80 years, 8 months, and 6 days.  Using this evidence, students of the family long gave his span of years as 1753 to 1833. 

 

Once the baptismal records of the Rev. Jacob Lischy became available, we had to make one change in what we had believed about Henry's birth year.  Lischy recorded that he had baptized Henry on November 12, 1752.  As was his custom, he ignored the child's date of birth and recorded only the baptismal date.  A person who died on April 16, 1833 and who was well into his eighty-first year would have been born in 1752.  We do not know whether the family gave the tombstone cutter the wrong year of birth or whether the latter made the mistake, but Rev. Jacob Lischy's record establishes that Henry Glatfelter was born in 1752, not 1753. 

 

Two of the three baptisms Jacob Lischy performed on November 12, 1752 were for members of the Glattfelder family circle.  The godparents for Henry were Henry and Dorothy Walter, who accompanied Casper and his first wife (Dorothy's sister) to America and whose lives were closely associated with his in this country. On the same day Lischy baptized John Jacob, son of John and Barbara (Glattfelder) Hildebrand.  The mother of this child was Casper's niece.  The child's godparents were Barbara's sister Elizabeth and her husband, Jacob Rein.  The Glattfelders, Walters, and Hildebrands lived on adjoining farms along the south branch of the Codorus creek. 

 

Although we do not know when or where, Henry did secure enough of an education so that he could write his name.  He came of age in August 1773, less than two years before his father died.  The first subsequent Codorus Township tax record which has survived is for the year 1778.  It gives Henry as a single man. 

 

 

 

There is no evidence that Henry enlisted in one of the several volunteer companies which were formed in York County in the early days of the American Revolution and which participated in the early battles of the war.  In March 1777 the revolutionary government of Pennsylvania passed the first in a series of laws requiring the services of virtually every able-bodied male between the ages of eighteen and fifty-three years in the militia, which was subject to call to active duty in defending the state against invasion, in guarding prisoners of war, or in campaigns against the Indians.  There is no evidence that Henry was ever summoned to active duty, but his name appears on enough militia lists to demonstrate that he performed the duties which the laws required.  In 1938 one of his descendants was admitted to membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution on the strength of his service in Captain George Geiselman's militia company in 1782, which was after the surrender of the British army at Yorktown. 

 

Henry Glatfelter postponed marriage until he had reached the age of thirty.  The register of the first Reformed church in York records that he was married on August 20, 1782 to Margaret Heilman, who was more than seven years his junior. 

 

Born on January 5, 1760, Margaret was the daughter of John (d. 1786) and Anna Mary Heilman.  They were Lutherans.  The baptisms of four of their children (but not that of Margaret) appear in the register of Christ Lutheran church in York, between 1750 and 1764.  John Heilman took his turn in fulfilling township responsibilities, serving successively as constable, tax collector, overseer of the poor, and supervisor of highways of Codorus Township.  In addition to farming, he was a tailor. 

 

In 1766 Heilman purchased from John Appleman a tract of land located just east, and including part of, the present town of Stoverstown in what is now North Codorus Township.  It is possible that his family had lived on this land for some time before actually buying it. 

 

In his 1901 history of the family, Dr. Noah M. Glatfelter wrote that John Heilman was the "original owner of the tract on which Okete is located."  Part of this statement is false and part is misleading.  First, Heilman was the second owner of this tract, after John Appleman.  Second, while there was a post office named Okete in existence between 1886 and 1907, during which time Dr. Noah conducted his research and wrote his book, the name soon thereafter disappeared from county maps and was replaced by Stoverstown.  It is regrettable that Dr. Noah became enamored of the five-letter word and sprinkled it liberally through his treatment of Henry and his descendants. 

 

Someone told Dr. Noah that John Heilman introduced the Heilman pear into America from Germany.  A few years after the book was published, Rudolph B. Glatfelter (1847-1910), his great-grandson, wrote in the August 27, 1906 issue of the newspaper he was then publishing that he had just returned from his sister-in-law's sale in Stoverstown, "with a supply of the famous Heilman pears, the two original trees having been brought from Germany by his greatgrandfather," whom he erroneously identified as Michael Heilman. 

 

On September 7, 1782, less than three weeks after he and Margaret were married, Henry purchased from Henry Engel a farm of 139 acres 18 perches, plus rights to an additional 25 acres.  He was the fourth person to acquire this place, the first claim to it having been made in 1762.  It was located along the road leading from Bupp's Union to Loganville, in what was then Shrewsbury but is now Springfield township.  According to the information in the 1798 federal direct tax assessment, Henry and his family were then occupying a one-story log house, 22 by 18 feet in size, with 3 windows and 31 panes.  They owned a 45 by 20 foot log barn.  In the tax lists of the time he is usually called a farmer, but sometimes the word distiller is used to identify him, as it was in the case of many of his neighbors.  By this time Henry had already filled several Shrewsbury Township offices, including overseer of the poor in 1792 and supervisor of highways in 1798. 

 

When his brother-in-law Philip Heilman died, the widow renounced her right to settle 

 

the estate in favor of Henry.  He took out the necessary letters on January 16, 1797 and presented his account two years later.  Philip had few assets; he owned no real estate.  When Henry paid all of the bills of the estate, there was actually a small amount of money due him. 

 

In the spring of 1802, Henry made the decision to leave the homestead which he and his family had occupied for twenty years and establish a new one in another township.  On April 10, 1802 he purchased from his brother-in-law, Michael Heilman (1756-1843), the property in Codorus Township which John Heilman had left him when he died in 1786.  At the time of the federal direct tax assessment in 1798, the farm consisted of about 180 acres and was improved with a two-story log house measuring 26 feet by 24 feet.  By the time the 1803 Codorus Township tax list was prepared, Henry and his family had already moved. He retained ownership of the old place until March 31, 1832, when he sold it to Lewis Bupp, who still owned it when he died in 1891. 

 

In the years after 1802, Henry Glatfelter watched as one after another of his brothers died: John in 1811, Felix in 1815, Solomon in 1818, Casper in 1823, and Michael in 1824. Beyond that point he was the only surviving son of Casper and Anna Mary Glattfelder.  When he came to making his will on March 27, 1833, Henry probably sensed that his own end was near. Describing himself as "weak in body" but "sound of memory, mind, and understanding," he went to considerable lengths to provide for Margaret during the remainder of her life and for the disposition of his real estate according to his specific directions.  Justice of the Peace Daniel Lease and Henry Hassler were present when he signed the will. 

 

Henry Glatfelter died in his eighty-first year on April 16, 1833 and was buried in the graveyard of what was then St. Paul's Lutheran and Reformed church in West Manchester Township, but what was better known simply as Wolf's church.  Henry was the only son of Casper remaining in York County for whom there is a record of a tombstone's having been purchased.  The stone for which Michael Crist charged $15 is still standing and legible. The coffin which Henry Seller made was less expensive: it cost $9. 

 

In his will, Henry named his oldest son Philip and his youngest son Jacob executors of his estate.  For what they described as "divers good causes," both sons declined to serve. Instead, letters were granted to Daniel Lease, who became the administrator with the will annexed.  One of his first and most important tasks was to dispose of the real estate as the decedent directed. 

 

In his will, Henry specified that his heirs should select "Seven disinterested men" to divide his "Dwelling Plantation in So many Tracts as they think proper" and place a value on each. This procedure was similar to that often followed in estates in which there was no will.  The heirs would petition the court to authorize the sheriff to conduct an inquest into how the real estate could be divided among the heirs.  Most frequently the conclusion was that the property could not be divided without reducing its value.  It was then usually sold in one piece.  In this case, since Henry had determined the procedure to be followed and implied at least the result, no court or sheriff was involved and the report of the seven declared that "it is our Opinion to Devide and appraise the Said Real Estate or Dwelling Plantation in four Tracts."  The first, containing 118 acres 44 perches, was improved with a two-story log house and bank barn. The second, with 41 acres 15 perches, had a one-story log house and a small barn.  The third and fourth tracts, one with 37 acres 142 perches and the other with 31 acres 33 perches, apparently had no buildings.  In October and November 1833 three sons each agreed to take one of the tracts at the appraised value, which ranged between $10 and $16 per acre.  Since no one was willing to take the first 

 

tract at the announced value, it was put up for sale.  Jacob Glatfelter, the youngest son, bought it, paying the appraised value. 

 

Margaret Glatfelter spent the last years of her life with her son Jacob, on the farm which in succession her father, brother, and husband had owned.  Declaring that she was still in good health and of sound mind, she made her will on January 30, 1843.  She committed her body "to the earth of Wolfs church, at west Manchester township", ordered payment of all of the expenses of her estate, and directed that her personal property was to be appraised and divided among her heirs.  Instead of affixing a signature to the document, she made her mark. 

 

Margaret outlived four of her children (Peter, Anna Mary, Michael, and Frederick) before dying on January 27, 1847, in her eighty-eighth year.  Her wish was granted; she was buried at Wolf's, next to her husband.  Henry Zeller charged $9 for her coffin.  Crist and Minter received $12 for her tombstone, $3 less than what was paid for her husband's.  Jacob Glatfelter settled his mother's estate.  The account which he presented in 1848 showed that much of her assets consisted of obligations due for one reason or another from her children.  Jacob was allowed the sum of $110.54 for "boarding deceased and keeping the funeral." 

 

Henry and Margaret Glatfelter had eight children, seven of whom were baptized by the pastor then serving Shuster's Reformed church.  Seven of the eight survived infancy.  All seven married and had children.  Six were buried at Wolf's church.  Sketches of each of the eight children follow. 

 

Shuster's Reformed refers to a church once called the Yellow church, later St. Peter's Reformed, still later St. Peter's United Church of Christ, and now St. Peter's church.  It is located in the present Springfield Township, York County, near Seven Valleys. 

 

Between the deaths of Henry and Margaret Glatfelter, the York County court (in January 1838) authorized the division of Codorus Township into two municipalities.  The homestead on which Henry died in 1833 became, five years later, part of the new township of North Codorus. 

 

Philip 

 

When Dr. Noah was gathering information for his 1901 history of the family, the Stoverstown Glatfelters were able to tell him very little about this son of Henry and Margaret. Consequently, he was able to say only that Philip had "moved to Juniatta co., Pa., some 60 years ago.  He had 8 children.  Have not been able to secure further knowledge of his family."  When he published his supplement in 1910, Noah added that Philip had gone to Snyder instead of Juniata County and that he now knew the name of one of his children, Susie. 

 

Unfortunately, even a century after Dr. Noah's work, we cannot trace Philip and his family with the certainty and completeness possible in the cases of most of his siblings. But there are some things we do know about them. 

 

First, as his father's will testifies, Philip was the oldest child of Henry and Margaret.  He was born sometime between the marriage of his parents in August 1782 and the birth of their second child in January 1785.  Philip was the only one of their eight children whose baptism was not recorded in the Shuster's Reformed register.  The reason is probably a simple one.  That register was not begun until August 1784.  For some reason, the pastor who baptized Philip did not record the act in the already existing Shuster's Lutheran register.  Between 1777 and 1783 the baptisms of nine of Casper Glattfelder's other grandchildren were recorded in that register. 

 

Second, Philip's name appears for the first time in the Shrewsbury Township tax list in 1807 (there is no surviving list for 1806).  By then he had reached, and probably exceeded, the age of twenty-one years.  It is evident that by 1808 he was occupying and paying taxes on his birthplace, even though the title to it was still in his father's name. 

 

Third, we can trace Philip through the United States census. In 1810 there were three in his family: Philip, his wife, and one female between the ages of ten and fifteen years.  A diligent search has failed to locate them in the 1820 census, but ten years later there were five male and three female children, plus Philip and his wife.  This record corroborates what Dr. Noah was told: Philip had eight children. 

 

Fourth, there are two York County baptismal records for the children of Philip and his wife Anna Mary, but one must be careful to distinguish them from children of his cousin Philip (1782-1825), son of Felix, whose wife was also Anna Mary (1784-1878). The baptism of Frena (or Veronica) was entered in the Shuster's Reformed register in 1811 and of Isaac in that of the first Reformed church in York in 1819.  What happened in the cases of six other children we do not know. 

 

Fifth, we are left with some additional information about Philip, the meaning of which we cannot now understand.  Why, when his father sold the old homestead farm near Bupp's Union in 1832, did he not sell it to Philip, who had lived on it for a quarter century?  Why, when his father made his will, only three weeks before his death in 1833, did he specify that, if his youngest son Jacob did not accept the home place when it was offered to him, Philip should have the next chance to buy it?  Why, after Henry named his oldest son Philip and youngest son Jacob to be his executors, did both sons decline, for what they called “divers good causes”, less than a month later?  Philip appears in the Shrewsbury Township tax lists for the last time in 1831. Unlike four of his brothers, he acquires none of his father's real estate. 

 

In the 1840 census Philip and his family appear in Chapman Township, then Union but now Snyder County.  In addition to the husband and wife, there are five males between the ages of 5 and 20, three females between the same ages, and one female between the age of 70 and 79. In the census of 1850, which was the first to list each family member by name, Philip Klatfelder, 65, and Mary, 64, were in a household in Point Township, in northern Northumberland County, headed by Israel Klatfelter.  Ten years later (1860), in the same township, Philip Clodfelter, 78, is identified as a pauper in the family of John and Elizabeth Kuens(?). 

 

There is no further reference to Philip known to this writer, but in the graveyard of St. John's Lutheran and Reformed church, near Mt. Pleasant Mills, Penn Township, Snyder County, there is a tombstone for Anna M., wife of Philip Glatfelter, born September 18, 1787 and died July 31, 1868.  Her maiden name is unknown.  She was not listed with Philip in the census of 1860, but she was buried in the same graveyard as her son-in-law and daughter, Daniel and Frena Hovis. 

 

As best it can be constructed at the present time, using available credible evidence, the family of Philip and Anna Mary Glatfelter consisted of Susan (1807-1883), who married Peter Myers, or Moyer (1817-1897); Frena (1811-1889), who married her second cousin, Daniel Hovis 

 

(1809-1872); John (1813-1897), whose wife's name was Susan; Isaac (1819-1847), who married Susanna Myers, or Moyer, in 1847 and died the same year; and Peter (1821-1889), who married Charlotte Arnold (1831-1898).  This leaves at least three children unaccounted for. 

 

Of these children, Susan Myers eventually returned with her husband to York County and was buried in Stoverstown.  The remaining four lived most of their lives in southeastern Snyder and northeastern Juniata counties.  Daniel Hovis and Peter Glatfelter both had large families. Frena, Isaac, and Peter were buried in Snyder County; John, in Juniata.  There is an indication of the extent to which the latter's family did not remember their beginnings.  In 1897 whoever provided information for the death register which Pennsylvania counties were required to keep between 1893 and 1906 gave this answer to the question of where John was born: unknown. 

 

Frederick 

 

The Stoverstown Glatfelters had little to tell Dr. Noah about this second son of Henry and Margaret.  Accordingly, he wrote that Frederick "died about 50 years ago at Okete, Pa. He had 6 or 7 children.  A son, Solomon, is said to live in Lancaster, Ohio; a daughter in Baltimore, Md.” When the supplement was published in 1910, he was able to name both wives of Frederick and six children. 

 

As already mentioned in this report, tombstone records are not always reliable. 

 

Frederick's tombstone in Wolf's church cemetery is but further evidence of this.  It gives his dates as January 30, 1782 and January 27, 1845, and his age as 62 years, 11 months, and 28 days.  This would place his birth at seven months before his parents' marriage.  It is flatly contradicted by the baptismal record in Shuster's Reformed register: John Gottfried Glatfelter, son of Henry and Margaret, was born on January 31, 1785 and baptized on May 5 of that year.  His god-parents were his uncle and aunt, Gottfried and Rosina (Heilman) Klinedinst.  As happened in other families, a child named Gottfried became Frederick. 

 

Frederick Glatfelter married Margaret Hassler.  They had two children.  The baptism of David on October 5, 1806 was recorded in the Shuster's Lutheran register.  His grandparents, Henry and Margaret, were his godparents.  There is no further record of him; he must have died in infancy.  The second child, Mary, was still a minor when she married George Byerts in 1828. Margaret Glatfelter died in 1815.  A claim which Byerts made in 1828 states that Margaret was the daughter of Christian Hassler, who died in Monaghan Township in 1813.  If so, she and Frederick were first cousins, but a petition presented to the court in 1813 states that Christian's daughter Margaret when then still a minor. Margaret must have been a daughter of one of Christian's brothers. 

 

Frederick Glatfelter does not appear in the Codorus Township tax lists in the years immediately after he came of age, but he is recorded as a resident of Monaghan Township, assessed for a cow or two, from 1810 through 1814.  His first appearance in Codorus Township, and as a single man, is in the list for 1816-1817.  Early in 1817 he acquired a property of some 30-35 acres, located east of his father's farm.  He continued to own and occupy this farm for more than a quarter century. 

 

Frederick Glatfelter and Mary Wilhelm became the parents of five children: Elizabeth (d. 

 

1892), who married Henry Mittendorf (d. 1879); Lydia (1831-1906), who married John W. Miller 

 

(1829-1906); Nancy, who died young; Sarah Ann (1833-1896), who married Valentine Myers (1827-1904); and Solomon (b. 1838), who was one of the small band of great-grandchildren of Casper and Mary Glattfelder still living when Dr. Noah published his supplement in 1910. 

 

Lydia's baptism was recorded in the Moravian register in York and Sarah Ann's in the first 

 

Reformed register in York. In both cases the names of the parents are given as Frederick and Mary Glatfelter, but two York newspapers record that John A. Wilson, Esquire, married Frederick Glatfelter and Mary Wilhelm on April 12, 1843. 

 

Of the four surviving children in this family, Elizabeth located in Baltimore; Lydia and Solomon in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County, Ohio; while Sarah Ann remained in York. 

 

The times were not kind to Frederick Glatfelter and his family.  In the days before North Codorus Township voters accepted free public education under the act of 1834, families had to declare themselves paupers to qualify for educating their children at county expense.   Between 1840 and 1843 Frederick took the steps necessary for three of his daughters to attend school. Then in the spring of 1844 the sheriff sold his 35 acre property (with a one-story log house and log barn) in order to pay his debts. 

 

Frederick Glatfelter died on January 27, 1845 and was buried at Wolf's church.  The administrator of the estate was his son-in-law, George Byerts, who reported a small balance of $91.12 when he presented his account to the court in 1846.  Two years later Frederick's widow told the court that Byerts had later received money intended for the estate for which no accounting had been made.  This was probably the bequest coming to Frederick's heirs from his mother's estate.  The sheriff issued a citation for Byerts to appear in court to answer the charges, but he was nowhere to be found.  In 1850 the two persons who had acted as sureties for Byerts filed a second account, but by this time he was in Iowa. 

 

A document filed with the county register of wills in November 1863 was presented as the will of Polly Glatfelter of Spring Garden Township.  She left everything to her son Peter Wilhelm, in return for his supporting her for the rest of her days.  This woman may have been the widow of Frederick Glatfelter.  The first Reformed register in York does record the baptism in 1825 of a Peter, son of George and Polly Wilhelm. 

 

Michael 

 

As recorded in the Shuster's Reformed register, Michael Glatfelter was born on November 4, 1786 and baptized on June 10, 1787.  His uncle and aunt, Michael and Anna Mary Glatfelter, were his godparents. 

 

Michael appeared in the Codorus Township tax list for the first time in 1810-1811, as a single man.  For about five years he was living elsewhere.  He was still a single man when he returned to Codorus in 1819-1820.  About 1824 he acquired 30 acres of land, adjoining his father's farm on the southeast. 

 

Michael was approaching forty when he married Elizabeth Boyer (1801-1871), daughter of George (1773-1828) and Mary (Hartman) Boyer and sister of Anna Mary, who married 

 

Michael's youngest brother.  Elizabeth was almost fifteen years younger than her husband. 

 

Michael and Elizabeth had five children: Matilda (1828-1881), who married Michael 

 

Krout (1828-1884); Anna Mary, who died in infancy; Sarah (1832-1908), who married Michael 

 

Emig (1830-1914); Caroline (1834-1915), who married David Leppo (1833-1902); and Ephraim (1836-1914), who married Catherine Hamm (1840-1924). There are baptismal records for four of these children, for Matilda at the first Reformed church in York, for Anna Mary at the Moravian church in York, and for Sarah and Ephraim at Wolf's Reformed church.  All four of the children who reached maturity married and had children.  They remained in York County.  Matilda and Sarah were buried at York New Salem; Caroline and Ephraim, at Stoverstown. 

 

Michael Glatfelter died on April 16, 1836, five weeks before the birth of his only son. He was buried at Wolf's church.  His younger brother Daniel became the administrator of the estate. Michael's land, which totaled 74 acres, included 37 acres which he had only recently acquired from his father's holdings.  The account which Daniel filed in 1838 showed a balance of $13.74-1/2. 

 

Michael’s untimely death left his widow with four children, the oldest of whom was eight and the youngest an infant.  She too took advantage of the laws providing for the education of poor children.  Between 1837 and 1843 both Sarah and Caroline attended school at public expense.  In 1850 both Caroline and Matilda were living in other families.  Elizabeth Glatfelter never remarried. For years after she became a widow she retained the homestead property.  Her last days were spent with her son.  She died on December 2, 1871 and was buried at Wolf's church. 

 

Anna Mary 

 

The tombstone of the only daughter of Henry and Margaret Glatfelter, which stands in the Wolf's graveyard, recites some of the important facts about her life: her name was Anna Mary Glatfelter, she lived from March 9, 1789 until May 25, 1822, she married Michael Hassler, lived in marriage for twelve years, and gave birth to five sons and two daughters. 

 

There is independent corroborating testimony for much of the above.  The Shuster's Reformed register records her birth on March 7 (not 9), 1789 and her baptism on May 9 of that year. Michael and Anna Mary Glatfelter, her aunt and uncle, were her godparents.  The first Reformed register in York records her marriage to Michael Hassler on April 24, 1810.  They were first cousins; their mothers were sisters.  The seven children referred to were Henry (1810-1842), Michael (1812-1829), Peter (1813), William (1815), Jacob (1817-1868), Catherine (1821-1832), and a daughter who died in infancy.  The baptism of the first of these children was recorded in the Wolf's Reformed register.  Those of several of the others were entered in the first Reformed register in York. 

 

When Henry Glatfelter made his will in 1833, he directed that the share of his deceased daughter should be given to her four surviving sons as they reached the age of twenty-one: Henry, Peter, William, and Jacob.  He also directed that his former son-in-law, Michael Hassler, "Shall not be Entitled to any part or Share of my Real or Personal Estate." 

 

In the documents from her time, including her father's will, this daughter of Henry and 

 

Margaret is called Anna Mary.  Dr. Noah called her Amelia.  Some indication of why comes from her mother's will, in which Margaret gives one share of her estate to the four sons "of my Daughter Mealy where is dead."  This may well have been the name by which her family best knew and remembered her. 

 

Soon after his wife's death, Michael Hassler remarried and moved to Stark County, Ohio, where he began a second family. Of the children both to Anna Mary, only Jacob remained in York County.  He was buried at Wolf's church. 

 

Peter 

 

At the 1936 Glattfelder reunion, the directors and Dr. E. C. Saylor, a descendant of Solomon and frequent reuniongoer, announced that at long last the tombstone of Casper Glattfelder had been discovered in the Bupp's Union graveyard. 

 

The inscription appeared to read Cpet Glfed, which appeared to be a primitive rendition of Casper Glattfelder.  Only after several people looked at the stone more closely, and read more of the inscription, did it become evident that this was a stone, not for the immigrant ancestor of the family, but for a child.  This child was born on February 13, 1791 and died on July 16, 1792. The directors soon agreed that their first and enthusiastic reading was incorrect, but were left with the question which Dr. Noah's research did not answer: whose child was this? 

 

Only when the Shuster's Reformed register was found in 1947 was there a clear and convincing answer.  That register records the birth of a son, Peter, to Henry and Margaret Glatfelter on February 12 (not 13), 1791; the baptism of the child on May 1, 1791; and the presence of Casper and Barbara Hildebrand as godparents.  When the child died on July 16, 1792, the closest place to bury him was the nearby Bupp's Union cemetery, where other relatives and friends of the family were buried. 

 

Henry 

 

Henry Glatfelter, fourth son of his parents, was born on September 7, 1793.  The record in the Shuster's Reformed register does not give the date of his baptism, only that of his birth.  His godparents were his uncle and aunt, Michael and Anna Mary Glatfelter. 

 

     About 1815 or 1816 Henry married Catherine Krout (1793-1856), daughter of Jacob (17661841) and Eva Magdalena Krout, whose farm was located on the old Krout family homestead north of the present Friedensaal church.  Catherine's baptism was recorded in its Lutheran register.  It is probable that Henry and Catherine had learned to know each other before Henry's parents moved to the Stoverstown area.  In calling them Harry and Kate, Dr. Noah assigned them both informal nicknames.  As far as the contemporary written records go, they were Henry and Catherine. 

 

     Henry appears for the first time in the Codorus Township tax lists in 1816-1817 and was assessed for many years thereafter for a cow and an occupation (described once as a weaver), but for no real estate.  He continued as a tenant farmer until he accepted the second tract of his father's real estate (41 acres 15 perches) late in 1833.  There was a one-story log house and a small log barn on this property.  He and his family may already have lived there for many years. 

 

     Catherine Krout died on March 24, 1856 and Henry followed on September 16, 1864.  Both were buried at Wolf's church. 

 

     Henry left no will.  His oldest son Daniel and son-in-law Eli Myers became administrators. Aside from the real estate, Henry left less than $100 in personal property.  As for the real estate, the heirs asked for the customary inquest to determine its value.  Since none of them accepted the report, the property was sold at public sale and passed out of the family.  When the administrators presented their account in 1865, they showed a balance of $443.45 for distribution among the heirs. 

 

     Henry and Catherine had ten children, born between 1817 and 1836.  Eight survived infancy. Although Dr. Noah identified the parents as Lutherans, at least six of the children were baptized by Reformed pastors at Wolf's.  The long-time Lutheran pastor there, Constantine J. Deininger, who kept a careful record of his pastoral activity, did not include the names of either Henry or Catherine among those whose funerals he had conducted. 

 

     The children in this family were Daniel (1817-1895), who married Mary Gentzler (18141900); Adam (1818-1905), who married Elizabeth Ilgenfritz (1818-1877); Jacob (1820-1892), who married Lydia Neff (1818-1896); Lena, who died young; George (1824-1894), who married Susan Hartman (1832-1905); Eva (1826-c.1910), who married John Miller (1828-1868); Catherine. (1828-1886), who married Eli Myers (1822-1916); William H., who died young; John (1832-1869), who married Leah Barnhart (1834-1890); and Nancy (1836-1906), who married Martin Emig (1839-1865) and then William Bowers (1830-1902). 

 

     Dr. Noah was not very successful in reconstructing Henry's family.  He missed one son (George) entirely, did nothing more than name a second (Jacob), and obtained very incomplete information on a third (Daniel).  Four of the surviving children were buried at Wolf's.  Three, who located in York, were buried in Prospect Hill cemetery there. 

 

Daniel 

 

      Daniel was the sixth son of Henry and Margaret.  The Shuster's Reformed register records the date of his birth (April 28, 1796), but not that of his baptism. 

 

      In reporting his death in its issue of January 21, 1881, the Glen Rock Item stated that he was drafted into the United States service in the war of 1812, and was a pensioner at the time of his death.  His service may have taken place in 1814, when he was eighteen years old. 

 

      Daniel appears in the Codorus Township tax roll for the first time in 1816-1817.  For some years thereafter he was assessed for only a cow and a trade.  He owns no real estate until 18311832, when he is assessed for 37 acres.  He took the fourth tract from his father's estate; it consisted of 31 acres 33 perches at the west end of the farm.  In the 1830s and 1840s he is assessed for a still and is sometimes described as a stiller. 

 

      The register of the first Reformed church in York records the marriage on November 12, 1818 of Daniel Glatfelter and Catherine Kling.  Apparently she was known as Katy, the name Dr. Noah used to describe her.  They had ten children, born between 1820 and 1837, almost the same interval during which the child of his brother Henry were born.  Most of Daniel's children were baptized by Reformed pastors in York and at Wolf's. 

 

     The children of Daniel and Catherine were Margaret (1820-1896), who married Henry Miller (1817-1885); Susan (1821), who married Emanuel Ramer and then Paul Myers or Moyer; 

 

Elizabeth (1822-1904), who married Henry Wolf and then Israel Fishel (1809-1859); Mattie 

 

(1824-1869), who never married; John (1827-1906), who married Melinda Messersmith (18361909); Henry (1829-1896), who married Lucinda Ehrhart (1836-1874) and then Sarah Mummert; Sarah (1832-1900), who married Israel Folkemer (1828-1906); Melvina (1833-1889), who married Israel Eyster (1829-1906); Daniel (1835-1921), who married Margaret Wiest (18411890); and Leah, who died young.  Six of these children were buried at Wolf's. 

 

      Catherine died on April 19, 1872 and Daniel on December 21, 1880.  Both were buried at Wolf's.  The Lutheran Constantine Deininger conducted her funeral and the Reformed Israel S. Weisz conducted his. The Glen Rock Item reported that when Daniel died he left 43 grandchildren and 51 great-grandchildren. 

 

      Daniel was the only son of Henry and Margaret to make a will.  His was a poorly written one; it was undated; he signed it in German script; and he named three sons as executors. Following the lead of his father, he directed that his real estate be appraised by seven men and specified the order in which the heirs should choose whether or not to accept.  The oldest son John took most of the real estate.  In their account filed in 1882, the executors reported a balance for distribution of $6,860.39, the largest amount for any of Henry's sons. 

 

Jacob 

 

     Jacob was the seventh and youngest son of Henry and Margaret Glatfelter.  The date of his birth (February 20, 1798) is given in the Shuster's Reformed register, but not the date of his baptism.  His godparents were his uncle and aunt, Casper and Eva Glatfelter.  Jacob was four years old when his family moved from the old homestead to the new one near Stoverstown. 

 

     Jacob appears for the first time in the Codorus Township tax lists, as a single man, in 18201821, very promptly after he reached twenty-one.  He is assessed for no real estate until after the death of his father.  In Henry's will, he was given the first chance to purchase what was called the dwelling plantation, probably with the expectation he would promptly take it.  After Jacob and all of the other heirs refused, for reasons unknown, the property was put up for sale.  He then purchased it at the appraised price.  For the rest of his life it remained his home. It is possible that he and his wife had lived with Henry and Margaret since their marriage. 

 

     About 1826 or 1827 Jacob married Anna Mary Boyer (1805-1865), seven years his junior and daughter of George (1773-1828) and Mary (Hartman) Boyer.  She was the younger sister of the Elizabeth Boyer who married Michael Glatfelter. 

 

     Jacob and Mary became parents of twelve children: Cordelia (1828-1884), who married Michael Klinedinst (1829-1913); Louisa (1830-1879), who never married; David B. (1832-1905), who married Emaline J. Glatfelter (1849-1925); Henry B. (1834-1918), who married Ellen Klinedinst (1847-1927); Jacob B. (1836-1906), who married Lucinda Hamme (1841-1935); Andrew B. (1837-1912), who married Sarah N. Walker (1840-1919); Leah (1839-1917), who married George H. Myers (1844-1916); Michael and Mary, who died young; Rudolph B. (18471910), who married Rosa Hamme (1857-1928); and George Amos and Hezekiah, who died young. 

 

     Jacob and Anna Mary were very careful to have their children baptized.  The baptismal records of all twelve are preserved, in three Reformed registers, but the Lutheran pastor Constantine Deininger officiated at the funerals of both parents.  Eight of the children survived childhood.  Seven married and all but one had children.  All five sons who reached adulthood added the initial B, undoubtedly for Boyer, to their names.  It was not part of the name given them at baptism.  Except for the unmarried daughter, none of the adult children were buried at Wolf's.  Four were buried at Stoverstown, and one each at York New Salem, East Berlin, and York (Prospect Hill). 

 

     Anna Mary Glatfelter died on December 11, 1865 and Jacob on December 9, 1872.  The Hanover Citizen reported that he had died suddenly while watering his horses.  Since there was no will, his youngest son, Rudolph, became the administrator of the estate. When court-appointed viewers decided that the real estate could not be divided without reducing its value, which they set at $45 per acre, none of the heirs would accept it at that price. Whereupon the court ordered that it be sold.  In September 1873 the administrator offered a total of seventeen tracts (not one) for sale, the largest of which was the family farm.  There were nine purchasers of the tracts, including several of the children.  Jacob B. bought the largest parcel: 93 acres.  Several parcels were lots in Stoverstown.  The balance available for distribution to the heirs by the time the estate was finally settled was  $5,946.89. 

 

      The sale notice which Rudolph Glatfelter inserted in several York newspapers presented a description of the size and condition of what was left of the "dwelling plantation" of John Heilman, Henry Glatfelter, and Jacob Glatfelter in the fall of 1873.  The entire seventeen lots were located in North Codorus Township, adjoining the village of Stoverstown, about three miles west of the Northern Central Railroad, within sight of the Codorus creek and the proposed route of a new railroad from Hanover to York.  The first tract was a farm of 76 acres 116 perches, more than half of which was "Farm land, well limed, and in a high state of cultivation, well fenced in." There were many springs of water, as well as "a stream of water sufficient to turn a mill, running through the farm."  There was an "Orchard of choice fruit trees, including pears and apples, on the premises.  The buildings included a two-story dwelling house and a "good bank barn with corn crib attached, and other necessary outbuildings." 

 

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      In the preface to his history of the family, Dr. Noah acknowledged the help he had received from many friends, but there was no descendant of Henry among the five he named in person. There were two such descendants among the first seventeen directors of the family association, named in 1910. Andrew B. Glatfelter served until he died in 1912.  Michael H. Glatfelter was a director until 1929. 

 

      More than a dozen Henry descendants have been board members since 1910.  Ernest S., Harry J., and Harvey J. served in that capacity for more than fifteen years.  Ernest S. Glatfelter was the only one of the eight presidents thus far to have the blood of Henry in his veins: he served from 1945 until 1966. 

 

      Of the present seventeen directors, four are descendants of Henry: Richard L. Gladfelter, Jack 0. Gladfelter, Scott A. Gladfelter, and Sandra G. McDonald. 

 

      The descendants of Henry and Margaret Glatfelter have included many fathers and mothers, farmers and laborers, teachers, pastors, businessmen, and public officials.  George M. Leader, who was governor of Pennsylvania from 1955 to 1959, is a great-great-great grandson of Henry and Margaret Glatfelter. 

 

July 18, 2000                                                                                             Charles H. Glatfelter